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20091009

Police Report Oct 9 2009

Oct 9 2009, CENTURION, Raslouw smallholdings -- " I remember their eyes and their hatred." These were the words of Elaine Cahill, 25, a Pretoria woman who was throttled, kicked, beaten, handcuffed pepper-sprayed and who saved her life by playing dead during a vicious attack by a local metropolitan policeman and his three-man house robbery gang – arrested today.

The gang, according to police sources, is believed to have been involved in a number of house and business robberies. Ms Cahill, 25, was at home on her parents' Raslouw smallholding outside Centurion yesterday when she was attacked. Cahill was overpowered as she showed the men around the property on which the family runs a childrens’ party business.

The attack began when two of the gang members conned their way on to the property by pretending to be security guards. The gunmen also turned on the family's domestic worker, Idah Mashilo, as she ran to help Cahill. Forcing Mashilo back into the house at gunpoint, two of the robbers made her point out where the family kept their guns and other valuables. The men, who overpowered Cahill by pepper-spraying her face, forced her into a building used for children's parties before they beat her to the ground.

Once on the floor the men handcuffed her before they took their shoelaces and a rope and tried to strangle her. Unable to kill her, the men then took a jacket and used its sleeves to throttle her. Thinking Cahill was dead when she passed out, they left her and searched for valuables.Realising she had regained consciousness, the men turned on her again, one of them tightening the jacket sleeves while the other repeatedly jumped on her throat.

Feigning death, Cahill waited for the men to join their accomplices in the main house before she slipped one of her hands out of the handcuffs, untied her feet and ran to a neighbour for help. Police from the Gauteng Rapid Response Unit, on patrol in the area, were alerted to the attack and raced to the house. They arrested two of the suspects as they fled through a field. They showed the police where they had thrown away Cahill's father's gun which they had stolen in the robbery.

The police were then led to a Pretoria West scrapyard where the 30-year-old off-duty Pretoria metro policeman was pointed out by his accomplices. The police were led to his Sunnyside home where officers seized the policeman's 9mm service pistol, which they believe he hid soon after committing the robbery.

Cahill, recalling her ordeal, said she had been terrified. "I remember everything. I remember their eyes and their hatred," she said, describing how she had asked God to help her survive. Cahill said when she saw the first two men she immediately became suspicious.

They were dressed in Coin Security uniforms:

"I did not trust them, but because they were dressed like security guards and wanted to book our venue I thought they were okay. When I was attacked I did not know what was happening. It happened so quickly. They pepper- sprayed me before they strangled me with their hands, then handcuffed me and dragged me to the outbuilding. As I tried to fight them they continued to hit and kick me and tied my feet with my belt. When they tied ropes around her neck, she said, "I thought this was it. I thought I was going to die."

When she struggled after regaining consciousness, the men came back. "I tried to scream, but I couldn't. My mouth was bleeding and I couldn't breathe. Every time I tried, one of the men would jump on my neck. I didn't know what to do. I was so scared I would never see my family again," she said, then describing how she had feigned death.

Console Tleane, the spokesman for the metropolitan police – which is not under the control of the nationl SA Police Services – confirmed that the arrested officer “was a member of the department's bylaws enforcement section. We are investigating information that the policeman, who supplied his accomplices with Coin Security uniforms, has been involved in other (crimes)," he said. He declined to say if the man had been suspended from the metro police, saying “the process to do so formed part of the department's internal inquiries.” The SAPS spokeswoman, Captain Tessa Jansen said two guns had been seized; and that the gang was charged with house robbery and attempted murder.

October 9 2009 -- Solidariteit trade union has raised the alarm about the growing number of ‘bogus pickups’ of cash-transit boxes by criminal gangs who pose as security guards – and who manage to steal large amounts of money only because their security cards are not properly checked by company workers before the cash-transit boxes are handed over and transferred to security vans. The latest company to fall victim to these gangs posing as fake-cash-transit security guards was Albany Bakery in Randfontein, which lost R476,000, Solidarity reports.

To make matters even worse, one of the Bakery’s long-term female financial clerks, who had worked for the past nine years at the , was then accused of gross negligence and faced a gruelling internal hearing and police questioning – however Solidarity ‘s regional manager Willie Janse van Rensburg managed to have these fake charges dropped against her because the company itself had never drawn up any specific guidelines for the way cash-transit boxes should be handed over by employees.

He said the bogus-pickup took place when ‘a temporary employee of the bakery had granted the cash-in-transit officials access to the company premises before verifying their identity cards, and without which the company ‘s cash-boxes should never have been handed over.’

“The Solidarity member, who has worked as a clerk in the office for the past nine years, walked into the office just as the first row of readied cash-boxes were being removed and placed into the van. The temporary worker was immediately by the clerk whether the security-officials’ identity documents had been checked before the boxes were handed over. When the temporary worker said that this check had not been done, our trade union member immediately raised warned that it was probably a ‘bogus-pickup’ and that their ‘guards’ security cards must be checked before theyr eturnedto fetch the next batch of cash-boxes waiting for pickup. However by that time, the criminals had already fled with the first cash-boxes,’ said van Rensburg.

“It almost cost the Solidarity member’s job, but we were able to have all the charges against her withdrawn, and saved her job,’ he said. Two seperate complaints of negligence were lodged against the Solidarity member, as she is the senior clerk at the bakery. No charges were lodged against any of the other responsible workers: the temporary worker, the head of the department, the chief of security or the manager of the business did not face internal hearings nor dismissal, he said. “Only our member was subjected to an internal hearing – but she was cleared of gross negligence and all the charges against her were dismissed by the company as they had never drawn up any formal guidelines for employees to follow in regards to the cash-transit handovers,” he pointed out. http://www.solidaritysa.co.za/Tuis/wmview.php?ArtID=2749

Oct 8 2009 – The Star. The chairman of the SA Parliament's justice committee has met the Human Rights Commission nominee Loyiso Mpumlwana about allegations that he ‘misrepresented his curriculum vitae” -- but says the ANC won't be "pushed into anything" if it is found there has been a campaign against the advocate.

Ngoako Ramatlhodi said he had reason to think the Eastern Cape advocate might have been the victim of a smear campaign. "And that is going to be part of my investigation. I am not going to be part of a campaign against my people. And obviously I am going to take my preliminary findings to ANC structures. "I am conscious of my role as ANC member and member of (the ANC) national executive (on one hand), and my role as an MP (on the other). But when a matter becomes complicated, it is very important for me to get political guidance," Ramatlhodi said.

If he believed there was an "unjust" campaign against Mpumlwana, he would defend him, Ramatlhodi said. He emphasised that the matter was essentially out of Parliament's hands as speaker Max Sisulu had submitted Mpumlwana's name with the other nominations to President Jacob Zuma. The Star

Left under a cloud from Truth and Reconciliation Commission:

Meanwhile, Inkatha Freedom Party MP Dr Oriani-Ambrosini congratulated the ANC for ‘not sticking to or trying to cover up their mistakes”, noting that parliament must urgently investigate details revealing that “advocate Loyiso Mpumlwana may not have fully disclosed to Parliament details pertaining to his departure from the position he held at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in 1997; and that Adv Mpumlwana may have been expelled from the TRC after a disciplinary inquiry found him guilty of various charges. The serious allegations require the matter to be urgently reviewed by the Justice Portfolio Committee and Parliament.. We hope that this time around the ANC will be more amenable to choosing the best person for the job, rather than giving the job to a best friend."http://www.polity.org.za/article/ifp-statement-by-mario-gr-oriani-ambrosini-inkatha-freedom-party-spokesperson-on-adv-mpumlwana-01102009-2009-10-01

The term "genocide" was coined by legal scholar Raphael Lemkin in 1943, writing:

'Generally speaking, genocide does not necessarily mean the immediate destruction of a nation, except when accomplished by mass killings of all members of a nation. It is intended rather to signify a coordinated plan of different actionsaiming at the destruction of essential foundations of the life of national groups, with the aim of annihilating the groups themselves.

The objectives of such a plan would be the disintegration of the political and social institutions, of culture, language, national feelings, religion, and the economic existence of national groups, and the destruction of personal security, liberty, health, dignity and lives of the members of such groups... '